CD8A and infection: Although enhanced activity of anti-viral CD8+ T cells is not always predictive of elite control of infection (Blankson, 2010), numerous studies in humans and macaques suggest that elite control strongly correlates with- or is dependent on- anti-viral CD8+ T cell responses that target conserved regions of SIV and HIV-1 proteins (Pontesilli et al., 1998; Saez-Cirion et al., 2007; Wijesundara et al., 2011; Chowdhury et al., 2015).